The Next Exam
by doobit91
Summary: A generation after the disasterous Chunin exam with Naruto, an new exam is held, with new teachers, brand new students, and a new plot against Konoha. Completely rewritten. Please R
1. Before

Team Kakashi sped through the Forest of Death toward their destination at the center of the forest. They bounded from branch to branch, no one speaking; all focused on their goal.

As the tower came into view on the dark horizon, the girl looked across to the two boys, her green eyes shining.

"There it is," she said urgently, "We have to hurry, the sun is already rising."

"As long as we keep up the pace, we'll be fine," the dark haired boy replied coolly.

"We're gonna make it. We're gonna be Chunin," the blond boy on the far left whispered to himself.

At the tower, the teams that had already arrived lay strewn about, recovering from their two day long survival test, glancing around suspiciously at the other teams. The proctor stood on the scaffolding next to the fifth Hokage. He looked up from his watch.

"I'll give it five more minutes; then you can make your speech."

"Thank you, Choji," Tsunade replied stately. She looked as young as ever; the transformation jutsu hid her age, but her increased frailty had become more apparent. This frailty had led her to choose a sixth Hokage only a month before. Of course, she was still more powerful than all but a handful of ninja in the world, however, like Sarutobi before her, she had deemed it best to retire some of her duties to the younger generation and relax in her old age.

"Choji! Another team has arrived!" called a ninja from the front entrance.

"Just in time!" Choji Akimichi called back jovially, "There are only a few minutes left! Which one is it?"

"It's Kakashi's squadron!"

On the ground floor, several groups of Genin looked around curiously, but in one team, all three members simultaneously paled.

"Ah! I am glad to see Kakashi's squad has succeeded!" their sensei enthusiastically rejoiced, "Did you ever see them during your time in the forest?"

"No Lee-sensei!" a boy with shockingly red hair and what appeared to be a giant sized spool of similarly colored ribbon attached to his back replied instantaneously. The other two members of the team grew paler.

The doors at the front opened automatically, and team Kakashi stumbled in with Kakashi Hatake himself walking calmly at the front, reading one of his erotic novels. The Genin in his squad were less calm than exhausted, and they struggled to place one foot in front of the other as they dragged themselves into the room.

"Kakashi-sensei!" a woman's voice piped from their left.

Kakashi turned slowly.

"Sakura. Your team survived, I see. Good job."

Sakura's green eyes glinted playfully. "Don't act so surprised," she replied precociously, "If I remember correctly, your first ever team made it through on their first try too."

Over the years, Sakura had become somewhat of a celebrity, renowned for her beauty and strength as a ninja. She was one of the trio known as the Next Sannin, and her medical jutsu had progressed as fast as her combat technique: she had even developed several jutsu used for treating head injuries that had become standards for fast treatment on the battlefield. Despite all her success, no one was surprised when she requested a team of Genin. She had always admired Kakashi and the other squad leaders for the impact they had on her generation of ninjas and wished to help the next generation in the same way.

Similarly, Kakashi's legend had only grown only grown as well. Konoha's Copy Ninja was more well-known than Konoha's White Fang ever had been, and some rumors claimed that Kakashi had copied all the jutsu from all of the hidden villages. However, despite his continued success, Kakashi felt his age more than anyone else. He enjoyed reading more than he enjoyed any mission and he had even begun to write some erotica of his own.

"Attention!" Chouji the proctor yelled, "Genin come forward!" 

He and the Fifth descended from the catwalk and stood in front of the door leading to the battle arena.

The Genin came forth, lined up within their squads. Some looked barely able to stand, while some appeared as if they had not received a single scratch from the branches in the forest. Two grass Genin were even unconscious and being dragged forward by their partner.

Tsunade stepped up.

"Congratulations," she said graciously, "You've made it through the so-called Forest of Death… all twenty one of you."

She looked along the line of Genin forcefully, "As I am sure you know, it has become a tradition, if the number of Genin who pass the second test exceeds 14, to have a preliminary round. This round consists of consists of sudden death battles in which each of you will fight a randomly assigned opponent, effectively cutting your number in half. These battles test your ability to focus and endure under extreme exhaustion. It also adds a random element, based on how your time in the forest went. Which _is_ a good thing," she added, in response to the incredulous outbursts from some of the students, "because you certainly won't be able to control every factor in a mission."

"Remember…" Tsunade said lowly, "these fights are anything-goes. If you managed to carry it through the forest, you deserve to use it. And while we have an entire staff of medic-nins on hand, this is still an extremely dangerous process. If you feel that you are unable to compete, raise your hand now and you will given be adequate medical treatment escorted from the forest."

The Fifth looked seriously through the droves of Genin, looking for a volunteer. She didn't see any volunteers.

"Are you all sure you… Are those two unconscious?" she asked, pointing to the boy and girl propped up on either side of a green haired grass Genin.

"N-no!" he stammered, reddening.

"Okay… we're gonna need a medic team."

The grass-nin immediately became desperate.

"No! I mean… they'll wake up! They'll be fine, it's what they would want!" he blurted out.

The medic team, clad in white, entered the room with two stretchers, but the green haired teenager stood defiantly in front of them.

"No! They'll wake up!" he stated strongly.

He wore dark green fatigues that clung close to his body and the standard ninja mail along his legs and arms. Some strands of his bright green hair hung over his grass village forehead protector which rested several inches over his hazel eyes. A conical, grass woven hat was strapped to his back over a sheathed katana which hung diagonally from his right shoulder to his left hip.

The medic team stood uncertainly before him for a moment.

"Kusamaru!" a stern voice projected, "Stand down!"

Kusamaru spun to face the speaker, a grass Jonin whose green hair and olive skin greatly resembled that of the Genin.

"But… yes, sir!" said Kusamaru, striking a position of attention.

The medics continued on their way, stepping around the rigidly standing Kusamaru, and placed the other two members of the grass team on stretchers before hurrying away. Kusamaru remained rigid until his sensei turned away, at which point he fell back into line with the other Genin, looking defeated.

"Wow…" whispered a black haired girl in Rock Lee's squad to her sensei, "he carried his two friends through the forest. He must be really strong."

"As I would expect you to do as well, young Kumo," Lee replied, kneeling down and facing his student, "That is the very essence of true friendship."

Kumo's grey, pupil-less eyes flitted timidly to the other two members of her team, then to the floor. The two boys on her team were laughing raucously and ignoring the disturbance. Kumo looked discouraged.

"Of course," she said quietly, "I would do the same for my… friends."

Her sensei beamed.

"Okay!" Tsunade blurted unceremoniously, "If there are no volunteers please proceed into the next room and climb onto the catwalks on either side."

The Genin filed through the door uncomfortably, followed by their senseis and the other exam staffers. The teenagers quickly gathered around their respective instructors and followed them into the catwalks.

Chouji Akimichi and Tsunade remained on the floor. While Tsunade took her place at the base of the statue at the far end of the room, Chouji stepped forward.

"Settle down everyone… As you have been told, this is an anything-goes process, however you are absolutely forbidden to kill: these matches aim for submission or yielding only."

He let this statement sink in, then continued, "There are a total of nineteen combatants: an odd number; which means that one of you will be given a buy and will automatically pass on to the third exam. This lucky ninja will be the only one left at the end who hasn't fought."

The red haired boy in Lee's squad whispered to the other boy in his team, a muscular teenager dressed in sky blue fatigues, "I wouldn't call not fighting _lucky._"

"Now," Chouji continued, "please look to the screen where the first two combatants will be chosen."

He motioned to a large blue screen above the serene statue where names began flashing briefly on either side of the letters 'VS'.

"I saw my name!" piped a blond girl in the stands frantically, "Oh! I saw my name again, Ino-sensei!"

"Calm down, Seyumi…" Ino Yamanaka sighed. She brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes and reclined against the banister. Being a teacher wasn't nearly as fun as she thought it would be, but Sakura was doing it and 'friends' have to stick together, don't they?

Every Genin (except Kusamaru who had collapsed against the wall in exhaustion) and every Jonin (except Ino and Kakashi who were just bored) stared raptly at the screen. The names stopped suddenly, causing some Genin to jump in surprise.

Zanku Tsuchi vs Iidoni

"You're up," Kankuro said to his student.

"I know," Iidoni replied.

"You're against a sound-nin."

"I know."

Iidoni looked up and locked eyes with her sensei. They smirked simultaneously.

"Easy," he said.

"Easy," she agreed.


	2. Sand versus Sound

The arena floor was empty, save Choji. And then Iidoni was there. No one really noticed her arrive.

"She's fast!" Sakura said quietly, staring intensely at the sand-nin who was regarding the sound ninja on the catwalk nonchalantly. "I haven't seen a Genin perform a body flicker like that since Lee... or Sasuke."

Kakashi looked up from his book, then looked down again.

To Sakura's right, Ino laughed femininely, "Now there's a girl who knows how to make an intimidating entrance!"

Iidoni continued eyeing the sound group confidently as proctor Choji approached the center of the floor. None of the sound-nin had moved.

"Zanku Tsuchi _is_ up there, isn't he?" Choji called out.

"It's time to go down, Zanku," Sasuke said.

Kakashi and Sakura gasped simultaneously. Kakashi actually dropped his book.

It wasn't Sasuke. Of course it wasn't Sasuke. It was a little girl: seven or eight years old at the most. She had jet black hair, pale skin, and even an expression of cool superiority that made her look almost exactly as Sasuke had at that age. But then she did something that Sasuke would never do. She smiled. And giggled. Granted, they were condescending acts, but they were still out of Sasuke's character.

"Oh! I should explain," she exclaimed, "Zanku only listens to me, so don't even bother talking to him." She sighed loudly and gazed with melodramatic pity at the ninja to her left. "He's a remnant from when Orochimaru was in control of Otogakure. Poor Zanku was experimented on so much as a baby that he can't even remember his own name. I guess he listens to me because I remind him so much of Orochimaru," she giggled again, "or maybe that's just me bragging!"

The Konoha Jonin exchanged dark looks. The Genin looked disturbed, maybe even afraid. All of their lives they had been taught to fear the name 'Orochimaru'. Speaking it was unpleasant, and comparing oneself to its bearer unthinkable.

"Okay, Zanku, go down the stairs and stand in front of that girl with brown hair."

Zanku turned and walked towards the stairs slowly. His head was shaved bald and his eyes were black, blank, and dead. He wore standard sound fatigues, so the only things that stood out about him were a row of interlocking metal boxes running down the center of his back and what looked like a dial on top of his left hand.

Iidoni didn't seem phased by the strange ways of the sound ninjas. She wore an all black tunic-like uniform with ninja male and a bright purple belt that almost exactly matched her eyes. Hanging on the belt were two small scrolls and a standard utility pouch. With short spiky hair that looked as if it had been raggedly chopped of with a kunai, she looked strange but tough.

"I believe this will be an interesting fight, Kumo," Rock Lee said to his student.

"I feel sorry for Iidoni," she replied quietly, "Hematsu, Tendone, and I fought those sound ninja in the forest... well it wasn't just us, team Ka... another team was fighting with us. And the sound ninja were... scary." Kumo shuddered, "They already had their Heaven and Earth scrolls, they were just fighting people for fun; it seemed like they were trying to scare us."

Lee met his student's eyes with noble solemnity.

"Did you rise to the challenge? Did you fight bravely until the cowardly enemy was forced to retreat in shame?"

"Well, ah, no. We ran away," Kumo said softly, lowering her head. "That Zanku guy wasn't tough at first, but then he just got tougher, and our attacks just wouldn't work on the other guy. But that little girl was the scariest of them all; she always knew what we were doing, before we did it!"

Lee looked back to the arena. "I believe this will be an interesting fight, Kumo," he repeated.

On the ground floor, Choji looked authoritatively from one competitor to the other: confident Iidoni then blank Zanku. Neither seemed impressed.

"You both know the rules," Choji said sternly, "so when I say 'go', begin the match."

As Choji backed away from the Genin, the sound kunoichi called, "Zanku, when that man says go, I want you to fight that girl, but don't kill her."

Zanku did not react.

"Go!"

Both ninja flew at each other. Zanku, with his almost exaggerated bulk, would clearly win this sort of match up, so, in the instant before collision, Iidoni rolled to the right and shot up onto the wall. From there, she launched herself, spinning, in an arc above Zanku's head and threw three glinting needles to where he stood.

Zanku raised his arm just in time to prevent them from striking his face. All three embedded themselves in his arm, but Zanku didn't flinch, he merely brought his arm down and examined them. The needles were dripping a purple liquid...

"Hey!" Choji cried out, "Those needles are poisonous!"

"I know the rules," Iidoni spat as she slid away from Zanku, still sliding with the momentum of her jump, "I'm not using any fatal poisons! These just cause temporary madness and hallucinations."

"Madness?" the Sasuke look-alike laughed, "In case you haven't noticed, Zanku's already mad!"

Zanku leapt towards Iidoni, fist raised. He flew above the ground with surprising speed, considering his bulk. As his powerful punch neared her, she stepped to the side casually, Zanku's punch hitting the ground with a dull thud, cracking the concrete floor slightly.

"We just replaced that floor!" Tsunade whispered, annoyed, to Choji.

Before Zanku had a chance to raise his fist, Iidoni pulled her three needles out of his arm, leaving deep, red holes in Zanku's forearm, and punched them swiftly into his ribs with enough strength to lift his whole body several inches off the ground. Again, Zanku didn't flinch. Iidoni's eyes flashed with steely aggression upon observing Zanku's lack of reaction.

Zanku lashed out with his injured arm, missing Iidoni but spraying her with blood. She jumped out of his range, a drop of Zanku's blood rolling down her cheek like a tear.

In the stands, Sakura watched closely. "He's clearly outmatched. She's much faster than him, and he doesn't even seem to have any weapons."

"Yeah," replied Ino, entertained momentarily by the spunky sand-nin, "I don't know why someone would even enter a re... a mentally handicapped person into this competition."

After separating himself from Iidoni, Zanku pulled the bloody needles from his side and regarded her with an animalistic wariness. Iidoni wiped the blood off her face, leaving a long bloody smear across her cheekbone. It looked like warpaint.

"Zanku, dear!" called the sound kunoichi from the other catwalk, "You need to fight harder. Maybe... two levels harder."

Without ever looking at her, Zanku clumsily grabbed the dial on top of his left hand and turned it until two clicks were heard. Immediately, the small metal boxes lining his back began to vibrate and glow blue. Glow with chakra. The humming sound the boxes produced increased in intensity until Zanku himself seemed to be vibrating. Suddenly, the floor for almost five feet around him cracked violently, sending chunks of concrete flying through the air, and Zanku began to breathe heavily, his shoulders heaving up and down. Huge amounts of chakra began emanating from his every pore, showering the whole room in a tingling rain of energy. Iidoni gaped at him, showing uncertainty for the first time in the match.

"Impossible!" Lee gasped, "He just broke the first two chakra gates!"


	3. An Adrenaline Fueled Match

"Okay," the sound kunoichi called, "Fight her now!"

Zanku leveled his empty gaze at Iidoni, who drew a kunai and began backing away slowly, darting glances to her left and right. She seemed to be thinking.

Iidoni made a few quick hand signs.

"Clone Jutsu!"

A cloud of smoke momentarily obscured the shinobi, and when it cleared away, three separate Iidonis became visible, each with a drawn kunai and a hardened expression. None of them moved.

"Why did she use a standard Clone Jutsu?" Senka asked his older sister, "They're so easy to tell apart from the real one."

"Can you tell them apart?" Sakura asked right back.

Senka studied the three Iidonis for a moment.

"Well as soon as they move, I'll be able to tell from the way they kick up dust or impact the ground," he looked to his sister, "Which one is real?"

"I want you to find out for yourself," Sakura replied, taking on the role of his instructor, "Focus on their chakra signatures. That's what separates you from someone like Zanku: you have a brain. And a good one too. Use it."

Sakura looked out to the sound ninja empathetically, "I don't think he has the mental fortitude to sense chakra at all."

On the ground floor, Zanku suddenly shot forward with astonishing speed: much faster than before. He seemed to be not running, but flying over the ground. Senka trained his eyes onto the first Iidoni replication.

"That one… isn't real," Senka said, struggling to concentrate.

Zanku slammed into the first clone with his shoulder and it burst in a cloud of smoke. His momentum carried him, crashing, to the wall where he landed, horizontally, with the sound of crunching concrete. He crouched on the wall like a spider for a split second before launching himself at the second Iidoni, deepening the cracks on the wall.

"That one… isn't real either," Senka said, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.

Zanku smashed his fist into the second clone, dissipating it into white smoke. He landed and pivoted, swinging his massive fist towards Iidoni's face. Huge amounts of chakra pooled in his fist, burning the air around it. Iidoni brought a kunai up to block… but not nearly fast enough. His knuckles slammed into her brow, smashing her forehead violently. The room gasped collectively.

With a small pop, Iidoni again dissipated into a cloud of smoke.

"None of them are real!?" Senka cried.

Zanku looked furiously around the room, searching for Iidoni. Right, left, behind, down; an explosive tag was planted at his feet.

"She hid the explosive tag under her clone!" Senka exclaimed.

Zanku launched himself up and away, just in time to avoid the explosion.

"And… checkmate," said a Hyuga girl in Sakura's squad with long, braided hair, staring directly at the floor where Zanku was about to land.

As his feet made contact with the concrete, the floor splintered and cracked in front of him. Iidoni's fist shot out of the ground and straight up towards Zanku's chin. She emerged, her face triumphant, her fist aimed directly where it would hurt. Zanku never even looked down. It was the textbook knockout blow.

But then, with her lower legs still submerged in the ground, Iidoni stopped. Zanku's sizable hand held her wrist with a vice-like grip. He had caught her. Zanku looked down at his now terrified opponent. For a moment, Iidoni thought he was smiling.

Zanku wrenched Iidoni out of the ground with one hand, almost breaking her wrist in the process, and flung her at the opposite wall.

She smashed into the wall and gasped in pain, tasting blood in her mouth, but Zanku was there before she even had a chance to exhale. He grabbed her ankle and dragged her into the center of the arena; her struggling and clawing at his hand made no difference. Then he grabbed her hair and pulled her upright, lifting her up by her head and practically scalping her. For a second they were eye to eye. Purple and dead. He seemed so angry and stupid, Iidoni almost felt sorry for him. And then he slammed his fist into her stomach, knocking her back against the same wall doubled over in pain. She felt two ribs crack.

Zanku dashed forward, raising his fist. He punched her again, and again, and again, throwing back his fist then smashing her into the wall. With each hit her body was forced further into the wall until a small crater had formed around her. Drops of blood began flying from the frenzied flurry of punches as her bones turned to dust beneath his fists, but the Jonin just stood by watching, flabbergasted.

"And to think, I told him not to kill you," said the Sasuke look-alike on the catwalk.

Iidoni flashed a quick glance towards the kunoichi, and then reset her eyes on the back Zanku's head, steadily retreating from her crazed opponent.

"Well, you were wrong about my poison," she said, "He's obviously hallucinating."

"Yawn," the sound-nin replied. "Zanku, stop! She's not there."

Zanku stopped frantically punching the wall and looked at his bleeding knuckles. Then he looked at the crater he had made. Then he looked at Iidoni.

Without wasting another second, Iidoni grabbed one of the small scrolls attached to her utility belt and unfurled it. With a small pop and a puff of smoke, a hypodermic syringe filled with a clear, blue liquid appeared. Iidoni snatched it out of the air and stuck it straight into a vein on her arm, injecting the liquid without cringing. She tossed the syringe aside.

"Hmm, what's that do?" asked the young kunoichi, leaning over the banister inquisitively.

"Oh, nothing fancy," Iidoni answered casually, "It's a chemical cocktail of my own invention that stimulates adrenaline to heighten my reflexes and strength. And my favorite part is that it uses my chakra to regenerate any damaged tissue."

"Oh, really. I hope it's fast acting. Zanku, knock her out!"

Zanku shot forward with the same blinding speed, but this time Iidoni was ready. As he neared, she flipped towards him into the air and placed her foot on the top of his head gracefully, pushing his face towards the ground. Iidoni then performed a spiraling, straight-legged flip and landed lightly ten feet away like a gymnast.

"Ow. My ribs hurt," she commented.

Zanku did not fare so well, however. He crashed, face first, onto the concrete and skidded painfully up to the wall, leaving a bloody streak along the floor where he had slid. He lifted his face and looked back towards Iidoni, growling. Zanku looked, in a word, horrifying. His nose was broken and bleeding, bloody abrasions covered the right side of his head, dark blood pooled in his black eyebrows and on his face was an expression of pure, primal fury. He charged.

Iidoni smiled.

She bit her thumb then made some fast hand signs, but as she finished the sequence, Zanku connected with a punch right below her ribs, lifting her into the air. Iidoni began to groan lowly and, seemingly, uncontrollably with and expression of anguish on her face.

"He knocked the air out of her!" Seyumi cried.

"Umm… no, I think she's performing a summoning technique," Ino said to her student.

As Iidoni continued groaning, she opened her mouth wide and what appeared to be a long strand of segmented, white paper extended from it and wrapped around Zanku's neck twice. His arms went slack and his jaw fell open, allowing the white 'paper' to enter his mouth.

"Is that a… tapeworm!?" Seyumi squeaked queasily.

She looked to Ino and locked eyes with her instructor.

"EWW-EEEEWWW!" they screeched simultaneously.

Iidoni landed back on her feet as Zanku's arms went slack. She stood, catching her breath, with the tapeworm connecting her to Zanku like a noose to a criminal.

"What are you doing Zanku!?" yelled the young kunoichi in the stands, "Beat her! Fight her!"

Zanku's arms twitched erratically as if he was trying to move them but couldn't. Kankuro laughed.

"Don't bother," he said to the girl, "Iidoni is using the tapeworm to sap his chakra. And it'll just drain faster as the worm gets into his stomach. From there it will burrow into the stomach walls and cut off the source of the chakra itself: the heart."

The kunoichi looked desperate and livid. Kankuro thought he even saw her eyes flash red. She was breathing heavily, madly, wheezing with uncontrollable malice.

"Zanku!" she screamed. Zanku didn't move.

"Zanku, I'm talking to you!" He twitched his head slightly.

"Zanku!" she shrieked madly, "I want you to kill that girl!"

A sand shinobi with brown hair and purple eyes who had been standing behind Kankuro drew a kunai agressively, but was stopped by a dark glance from his teacher.

Choji, the proctor, looked back to the Hokage with clouded features.

"Tsunade," he asked quietly, "should I step in?"

She looked just as grave. "There's no reason to. Yet."

In the arena, Zanku began twitching. His shoulders and arms jerked violently, shaking his entire body. His left hand began slowly reaching for the dial on his right hand. Iidoni poured her chakra into the tapeworm, trying to immobilize Zanku. He slowed, but continued his spasmodic efforts to reach the dial.

_How can he still move?_ she thought desperately.

He grasped the dial and turned it. It clicked once, twice, three times. Immediately the boxes on his spine began to glow blue, but this time, instead of a low hum, there was a high pitched buzz that resonated inside every bone of every person in the room. Iidoni didn't know what to do; in desperation, she drew a kunai and stabbed it towards Zanku's midsection.

Before the kunai touched him, Iidoni was thrown backwards with the force of a freight train. The tapeworm disintegrated completely, freeing Zanku and causing Iidoni to fall to her knees gagging.

The air around Zanku churned and sparked with pure energy. He bellowed as massive levels of chakra began coursing through his body, burning him as fast as it healed him. Chunks of concrete from around his feet began lifting into the air, spinning momentarily before disintegrating. Zanku's skin began darkening, turning a deep brown, and he opened his eyes, which were now completely black.

"What is that, Lee-sensei?" Kumo asked her instructor quietly.

"The cycle of cell necrosis has begun. He has broken the fifth chakra gate," Lee answered solemnly.

Iidoni rose off her knees, ignoring the burning chakra all around her but feeling scared and tired of fighting.

_I think I just want to lie down for a while._

Zanku centered his black eyes on her. He moved as casually as if he was walking, but it was faster than she had ever seen anyone move. She was completely powerless to stop him; she felt infantilized and helpless. As if to accentuate this point, he picked her up and cradled her against his chest with a crushing grip, pinning her arms against him as she struggled futilely. He coughed once, and then jumped all the way to the ceiling, landing upside down and sticking to it.

Zanku held Iidoni out in front of himself by her arms, her short hair hanging towards the floor, her eyes filled with the terror of inescapable ruin. She had stopped struggling. He dropped from the ceiling, pivoting until he was falling feet first, standing firmly on Iidoni's chest, and still holding her arms tightly. Kankuro watched in horror as they fell, watching their absurd position with surreal disbelief.

And then they landed. But not hard; just as hard as one would when falling from that distance. Iidoni cried out in pain and surprise, but she was still conscious.

Zanku's arms again fell to his sides, this time revealing an empty hypodermic syringe sticking out of his chest directly above his heart. Iidoni had injected him as he grabbed her. Zanku fell to the side like a wet sandbag: completely limp.

Kankuro smiled in relief. "There's no way anyone could brush off that much poison when their metabolism is going that fast, no matter how _crazy_ they are."

Iidoni rolled onto her side and coughed up some blood before struggling to her knees. She looked at Choji.

"I win. I'd like to go to the hospital now."

Tsunade snorted in exasperation, "Hell! I'll treat you myself!"


	4. Kusamaru and Iimaru

Kariudo, the blonde boy in Kakashi's squad, leaned over to his sensei, one eyebrow raised dramatically.

"Hey, that Iidoni girl's kinda hot, huh?"

Kakashi glanced at the team of medic-nin leading the stretcher out of the room absentmindedly. His eyes fell momentarily on Tsunade.

_She's almost seventy!_ he scolded himself.

"Sure," he grunted before returning to his book.

Not one to be disappointed, Kariudo ignored his sensei's mild reaction and scanned the other side of the room, looking for the rest of the sand squadron. His mussed up hair glinted as he turned, shining with the kind of glow that comes from an exuberant personality more than anything else. He located the sand team.

"I'm gonna send a clone over to the sand squad. Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A perfect replication of Kariudo appeared next to him, and then immediately transformed into a metal ball bearing about an inch and a half in diameter. Kariudo snatched the ball out of the cloud of smoke the transformation had created and fit it into the leather holster of a slingshot he had pulled off of a strap on his belt.

"Don't be so impulsive!" Kasuma, the green eyed girl to his left scolded. Her dark brown hair was vaguely reminiscent of charred wood and pulled back in a short ponytail. "Why do you want to talk to them?" she demanded.

Kariudo grasped the leather holster with his left hand and pulled back as he brought the wooden frame of the slingshot to eye level, holding it steady.

"Why not?" he said, looking at Kasuma with a mischievous grin on his face.

He let go of the strap, and the ball bearing shot across the arena, embedding itself in the opposite wall with a soft crunch. Just above the head of the sleeping grass ninja who had tried to bring his unconscious teammates into the tournament.

Kariudo smirked bashfully.

"Oops. A little too far left. You distracted me."

"Whatever," Kasuma said haughtily, flipping her ponytail with a jerk of her head, "Waste your chakra. Reveal your jutsu to the enemy. I don't care."

"The enemy?" Kariudo asked, "The grass, sand and sound villages are our allies! Besides, this whole tournament is about diplomacy and good relations, right."

Kakashi chuckled, "You could say that. I don't know how well that's worked out in the past though."

On the opposite catwalk, the ball bearing disappeared in a burst of smoke, and Kariudo's shadow clone reappeared… in the air… directly above the Kusamaru's sleeping head. Kariudo squeaked in surprise and lunged to the side, landing with his feet on one side of the grass-nin and his hands on the other. He rolled away and straightened up, turning to the sand team. They regarded him strangely.

"That's a Shadow Clone." Kankuro said to his remaining students, a brown haired boy and another boy with a large cylindrical object wrapped in bandages strapped to his back. "Remember this technique if either of you fight him."

"Ouch, that's harsh," Kariudo replied, pushing his blonde hair back into place, "shadow clones have feelings too, y'know."

Kankuro and the boy with the large object strapped to his back turned away uninterestedly. Looking closer, Kariudo saw what looked like hair sprouting from under the bandages on top of the object.

"So…" Kariudo said to the boy with brown hair and purple eyes, "I'm Kariudo and I just came over to find out more about the hottie in all black."

The boy stared at him in mildly offended disbelief.

"I'm Iimaru, and that 'hottie' is my sister. My twin sister. You can't tell by looking?"

"Oh," Kariudo looked away awkwardly. "Well… could I, like, have her phone number or someth…"

"No."

Iimaru continued to glare directly into Kariudo's eyes. They stood there quietly for a few moments.

"So, uh, you're named Iimaru and she's named Iidoni. That's a funny coincidence," Kariudo said, trying to break the silence.

Iimaru snorted, "It's not a coincidence. We were named for our god, Iishin, the lord of life. Our parents are high priests of the Iishin religion, and we were ordained at birth to follow our god's teachings. Unfortunately, my sister has chosen to focus on the more… worldly aspects of her studies."

"Mmh, worldly?" Kariudo probed suggestively, "Worldly like how?"

"Like medicine!" Iimaru spat, "And poison!"

"Oh…" Kariudo said, somewhat disappointed.

"My sister doesn't realize that the true secret of life is in the power of Iishin. He wields all five chakra elements that make up the body: earth and water compose flesh and blood, air grants us life with each breath, fire warms the body and powers the muscles, and electricity controls all of our actions from the brain."

"Hey… that's cool…" Kariudo said uninterestedly, looking around for a subject change. He found one. "What's the story with that Kusamaru guy?" he asked, referring to the sleeping grass-nin.

Iimaru frowned slightly, "I'm not sure. My team actually took his team's heaven scroll, so I'm very surprised to see him here."

"Wow, so his team got an earth and a heaven scroll after you took it? They must be strong."

"I don't think _they_ are," Iimaru replied with a concerned tinge in his voice, "I think _he_ is. Apparently their whole strategy was to have the other two members stay in one place and guard the scroll while he went around fighting other teams… by himself. My team was able to get past the traps the other two grass-nin set up, and Iidoni paralyzed them with a poison that lasts about two days. I guess when Kusamaru came back with an earth scroll; he then had to get another heaven scroll and then drag his teammates to the tower, avoiding enemies, all in less than a day."

Kariudo looked over to Kusamaru warily. He seemed peaceful, innocent; breathing deeply, collapsed against the wall.

"Yikes."

Iimaru nodded in agreement. "So what god do the people of Konoha worship?"

"We don't really have a god," Kariudo replied, feeling oddly embarrassed, "We believe in the Will of Fire that holds us together and keeps us strong."

"No explanation of life or the five chakras?"

"Not really… but there are more than five chakras anyway. What about light and dark chakra?" Kariudo pointed out defensively.

Iimaru looked away solemnly, "Those two chakra types don't produce life. They represent the chaotic forces in the universe: no good or evil, no loyalty to anyone, just constant fighting for dominance without end. They lie outside the realm of Iishin."

Iimaru made eye contact with Kariudo, his purple irises flashing.

"You should know, there are chaotic forces at work in this village right now. Something important and dangerous is happening; something much larger than this stupid test."

Kariudo was taken aback, stunned by the intensity and sincerity with which Iimaru spoke. He was telling the truth.

Just then, Choji called everyone's attention to the blue screen on the wall above the statue, and random names began flashing across it once more. Kariudo didn't register what was happening; had lost feeling all over his body. The names flashed meaninglessly before his eyes. The words stopped flashing, and Choji called out the names.

"Kariudo Kayagaki versus Kusamaru Oomori!"


	5. Blades and Bullets

Upon hearing his name, Kariudo jerked out of his stupor and, not wanting to be so abruptly face to face with his opponent, dispelled his shadow clone.

Kusamaru opened his eyes and was awake. There was no transition. He behaved as if he had been merely sitting with his eyes closed, not sleeping deeply against a wall. He looked up to Iimaru.

"How many rounds have taken place?" he asked lucidly.

"Just one," Iimaru answered, disconcerted to be suddenly left alone with the grass-nin.

"Thank you."

Kusamaru rose to his feet, adjusted the grass hat and katana strapped to his back, and walked calmly to the staircase. On the opposite catwalk, Kariudo had just received his shadow clone's memories and was feeling nervous, to say the least, about the upcoming fight.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he half whispered half screamed, "I'd rather fight Hematsu or Tendone any day than this guy! Shit!"

"From what Tsaiga tells me," Kakashi said calmly, motioning to the black haired Inuzaka boy slumped against the wall, a small dog unconscious in his lap, "you did fight Tendone and Hematsu."

"Yeah, and lost!" Kariudo hissed exasperatedly, "But that's not the point! This guy beat at least two teams in the forest… by himself!"

"Oh well…" Kakashi said, turning back to his book, "You can always take the test again…"

Kariudo moaned anxiously, but turned and walked resolutely to the staircase. Apparently, the prospect of returning to the Forest of Death overcame his fear of Kusamaru.

Before reaching the bottom of the stairs, Kariudo looked back to Kakashi and called to him, "You better watch my match! You've read that stupid book a million times. It can wait!"

"Hello, I'm Kusamaru."

Kariudo spun around in surprise, half expecting to find a keenly sharpened katana already at his throat. Instead, he found a hand, outstretched in greeting.

Kusamaru laughed bemusedly.

"I know what you're going to say," (Kariudo didn't) "and yes. I was named after Kusagakure."

Kariudo shook his hand cautiously as they headed for the center of the arena where Choji was already waiting.

"I'm Kariudo, from Konohagakure."

Kusamaru walked with a pronounced sense of fatigue. Dark circles surrounded his eyes and his face was covered by scratches from leaves (not weapons) and smudges of earth.

"Those are interesting seals," he said congenially, pointing to a thick stack of small paper squares hanging from a ring on Kariudo's belt, each inscribed with an intricate marking, "I hope I get to see what they are used for."

They reached the center, and Choji asked if they understood the rules. They nodded. Are you ready? They nodded again.

Kusamaru brought the grass hat onto his head and tightened the string around his neck to hold it on. Kariudo's right hand rested on his slingshot. They locked eyes.

"GO!"

Kariudo immediately bounced several yards back and brought his slingshot up without loading it. He pulled the strap back and aimed it at Kusamaru with a steady right hand. Kusamaru smiled.

"You should know," he chuckled warmly, "I am not affected by intimidation tactics."

Kariudo chuckled too, "This is _not_… intimidation."

The grass shinobi's eyes fell on the holster of the slingshot, inside of which was painted a small marking. A summoning seal… With a tiny puff of smoke, a metal ball bearing appeared inside the pouch. Kariudo let it fly without hesitation.

Almost faster than Kariudo could follow, Kusamaru reached behind his back and drew the katana, blocking the ball with the broad side of the blade. Kariudo immediately fired three more bearings in quick succession, creating a small cloud of smoke around the slingshot. Each bullet was aimed exactly to the place Kusamaru would leave unguarded while blocking the previous shot.

The grass-nin managed to block the first, sidestep the second, and turn his back to Kariudo in order to block the third with the sheath of his katana. His movements, while fast, seemed clumsy and delayed. Three days without sleep had clearly taken their toll, and Kariudo planned on taking full advantage of this.

Before the third blocked bearing had even touched the ground, he fired another, this time much more slowly. Then, with lightning fast hands, the leaf shinobi pulled back the strap and fired a very fast shot, aimed at Kusamaru's ankle. As Kusamaru brought his sword up to block the first shot, the second hit his ankle hard. His leg buckled beneath him and he fell painfully onto one knee.

_I guess this won't be too bad,_ Kariudo thought, satisfied with his early advantage, _He must be too tired to block the shots._

"Raito! Raito look!" the Hyuga girl in Sakura's squad called to a nearby teammate, "Kariudo's winning!"

"What are you talking about, Hakke?" Raito asked, approaching the banister, "He only hit the guy once."

"Yeah, but…" Hakke said, activating her Byakugan, "he fractured Kusamaru's tibia. That'll make your ankle go completely numb."

"Huh, I expected Kariudo to lose his match quickly," Raito commented without malice, "Maybe he could win now."

"I'm still not sure about that, though," Hakke continued, tugging excitedly on the bright pink ribbon on the end of her long, black braid, "Kusamaru has a huge concentration of chakra in his… utility pouch? This could be a good show yet."

On the ground floor, Kusamaru painfully pushed himself back onto his feet, favoring his left leg greatly.

"I apologize," Kusamaru said sincerely before Kariudo could get off another shot, "but I am too tired to fight you like this."

"Are you yielding?" Choji asked uncertainly.

"No, just providing a more interesting fight."

Kusamaru reached into his utility pouch, and Kariudo tensed, ready to dodge a kunai or cloud of shuriken, but instead, the grass-nin drew a small handful of tan grains, like sand, out of the bag. He tossed them at his feet and clasped his hands in the traditional position for chakra molding.

_Whatever he's doing,_ Kariudo thought, _I won't let him do it._

In one swift motion, he primed the slingshot and fired a ball bearing towards his opponent.

Kusamaru's hazel eyes opened. And a green wall literally sprouted from the floor in front of him, stopping the metal ball completely. As it fell to the floor, the barrier that had stopped it sunk down as well and spread out around Kusamaru's feet.

It was grass; grass so vibrantly green, it actually seemed to be glowing. It formed a small patch of plain for about five feet around him, growing thickly with the tips of the blades reaching slightly above his knees.

"This _will_ be a good show!" Hakke exclaimed in the stands.

The blades of grass nearest to Kusamaru began leaning in towards him, pressing against his legs like worshippers reverently clutching at the feet of their god. The blades that made contact with him began to glow light blue, and as they did so, a weight seemed to be lifted off of Kusamaru's shoulders. He stood taller, his hazel eyes shone energetically from under the grass hat and his movements, as he spread his arms blissfully, had lost their fatigued nature.

"What's going on? What's that grass?" Kariudo demanded, loading a ball bearing from his weapons pouch into his slingshot and aiming it at Kusamaru.

"This is just grass," the grass-nin (in origin and practice) said smiling, "or rather, it's my grass. Grass that I have spent hours imbuing with my own chakra." He looked down benevolently at the garden he had created. "It grows on any surface because it is fed from chakra, and because it's my chakra, coming into contact with it restores my energy."

He motioned to the outside edges of the small field, where some of the grass had begun to wilt and die. "Of course, using the chakra in such a manner takes away the very thing that keeps my grass alive, but I believe it is a sacrifice the grass is willing to make. We share a very close connection, after all."

"That's… nice," Kariudo said doubtfully, still aiming the slingshot at his opponent, "but we're still fighting."

Kariudo let the bullet fly, but, with a motion of his hand, Kusamaru gathered the grass to shield him. Some of the grass extended, and some blades grew out on top of those blades, and a momentary barrier was created, packed tight and almost six inches thick. The bearing bounced off harmlessly.

Kariudo lowered his slingshot slowly. The grass once again descended to the floor and formed a thick circle around its master, burying the used ball bearing in a forest of greenery."

"Alright," Kariudo said assuredly, "I won't fire until you come out of your little oasis and fight me."

Kusamaru smiled. "Of course!"

By the time Kusamaru had appeared two feet in front of him, sword raised, Kariudo had realized he might have made a mistake.

--

**Author's note:**

**Anyone who reads this please message me or review this chapter with a guess on to how this battle will turn out, k? ****I want to see if people are able to too easily guess the progression of events. Oh yeah, actually review too. Otherwise I never have motivation to revise my previous chapters.**


	6. Growth

Eight years before, Kusamaru was introduced to what would be his lifelong companion and protector, his grass.

Kusamaru's father, Midoriya, had taken him to a fenced off portion of the rolling plains outside their hidden village. Upon first glance, there was nothing particularly special about the fenced off area, save the warning signs posted at intervals along the boundary. When one looked closer, however, slight anomalies could be seen. For instance, when the wind blew across the plains the un-cordoned grass flowed in waves across the lightly sloping landscape. The fenced off grass flowed in waves too, just waves that were entirely independent of the wind's influence.

As Kusamaru and Midoriya stepped towards the gate, the young boy looked up to his father in abject admiration. Kusamaru's left eye was swollen so badly it had almost completely closed, but still a glint of hope for his father's approval shone through.

When they entered, the grass leaned in towards his father, bowing like majestic green servants greeting their king.

"Don't ever come here without me," Midoriya commanded flatly, "This is my grass. No animals can graze here, no other plants can grow here. If anything enters while I am not present, the grass immediately sharpens and attacks."

"Now," he said, beckoning the glowing grass with a wave of his hand.

The entire field began to softly rustle and shake, as if an entire battalion of mice were suddenly running through it, and then no less than twenty long, green stalks extended from the ground before the father and son. On the end of each grew several small pods, each of which emptied its contents into a small leather satchel the grass Jonin held before them.

When the bag was half full, Midoriya motioned to his son with a stiff jerk of his head, and they progressed into the center of the field, the grass clearing a small path on either side as they walked. When they stopped, the grass all around them receded silently into the ground, forming a small clearing around them. They sat down and Midoriya drew a hand-full of about one hundred seeds from the satchel and set it in a pile before Kusamaru.

"Focus you chakra on these grains. It works best if you concentrate on the individual seeds."

Kusamaru spread his hands timidly in front of the pile, looking to his father every few seconds for any hint of disapproval. Nothing happened at first, and then a few sputters of blue energy pulsated from his hands. And then nothing again, no matter how hard Kusamaru furrowed his brow in concentration.

The Jonin's eyes narrowed.

"Don't they teach you how to use chakra in that school you go to every day?" he demanded.

"I-I'm sorry," Kusamaru stammered quietly, looking to the ground in shame.

In an instant, Kusamaru was on the ground, curled into a ball, his hand pressed against his quickly swelling cheek. Midoriya looked down at his son furiously while lowering his hand.

"Don't ever apologize for incompetence! Fix the problem!" He bent down and pulled Kusamaru back into a sitting position. "Try again."

Kusamaru, his eyes shining with repressed tears, extended his now shaking hands once more over the pile of seeds. As he willed his energy through his arms, the tears disappeared from his eyes. Suddenly, a burst of chakra flowed out of his hands, inundating the grains in blue energy. Kusamaru seemed shocked at the amount of energy he was creating, but he did not lose his concentration and the chakra kept flowing.

And then, in the churning mass of chakra and seeds, one of the small grains violently popped. Then another, and another. Soon all of the seeds were popping, disintegrating in the burning intensity of the chakra. Kusamaru cut off the chakra supply, but all the seeds continued to burst into small showers of blue sparks until there was only one left. It sat in a circle of ashes, shining with an internal light like a tan marble.

"This is your seed," Midoriya said, placing it in the palm of his son's hand.

Kusamaru was breathless and disappointed. "Why… only one?" he panted, recovering from the unusual exertion of chakra.

"The seeds aren't used to your chakra, so they react badly to it," Midoriya answered, the fury now gone from his voice. His gaze traveled to his son's face and lingered on the forming bruise for a moment before skirting quickly away, "But that seed will make more seeds, and of those more will survive your chakra, and the next generation more will survive as well."

Midoriya looked back to his son's face, "You see, sometimes you have to hurt something to make it better, but as time goes on you don't have to hurt it as much anymore. Because it gets… better," he said awkwardly. The fury had left, and in its place there was something like remorse.

"I will remember this lesson, sir," Kusamaru replied eagerly, oblivious to his father's quiescence.

Kusamaru did remember this lesson, and he spent eight years training so that his father wouldn't have to hurt him anymore.

As he brought his sword down on Kariudo, Kusamaru saw his father on the catwalk. But mostly he saw his father's eyes, which were furious with the heat of battle.


	7. Father

Kariudo's first instinct was to raise his slingshot, which in retrospect may show a fault in his ninja training, but this time it worked out alright.

Kusamaru brought his sword down directly between the two prongs of the metal slingshot, knocking Kariudo to the ground with the force of the blow. He slid his sword down the inside of the slingshot, pinning Kariudo with his knee. Kariudo inhaled sharply as the tip of the sword bore down on his shoulder... then stopped. The tip of the katana had landed cleanly in the pouch of the slingshot; Kusamaru was straining to keep the slingshot's recoil from knocking the sword out of his hands. Kariudo took advantage of his opponent's momentary distraction and kicked wildly at the arm Kusamaru held the sword with, making him lose his grip.

Kariudo smirked as the sword shot backwards into the air, clattering with a metallic crash against the wall. Before Kusamaru could recover, Kariudo thrashed his way free and quickly rolled away, putting himself between Kusamaru and the sword.

The whole room was laughing.

"HAHAHA! Yes!" Hakke celebrated, "Did you see that?! Now that's a show!"

Raito nodded disaffectedly. His perpetually tired looking eyes focused on Kusamaru, who was standing up and no longer smiling.

Kusamaru felt his father's gaze on the back of his neck. He turned back to Kariudo, who was smirking broadly and thoroughly enjoying the laughter of the crowd, with a previously unseen coldness.

"I will not be made a fool of," he said calmly, "I have trained far too hard to be defeated here by someone as trivial as you."

As he spoke, grass began growing from every point on the floor, rising up into the air in thick blades and Kusamaru's voice rose in intensity.

"I will not tolerate being mocked in front of my father."

Kariudo was no longer smirking. He backed up against the wall as the grass began growing at his feet, all the while regarding the unwanted foliage with uneasy suspicion.

All emotion had vanished from Kusamaru's voice.

"I am going to defeat you now, so if you don't want me to kill you..." suddenly the same look of placid cordiality returned to Kusamaru's face. He smiled. "...say please."

Kariudo felt a chill engulf his body. He tried to steel himself, mentally preparing for the attack he knew would soon come. Out of the corner of his eye, Kariudo noticed the grass ninja's sword in the grass beside him, so he quickly snatched it and held it at the ready, point towards Kusamaru. The sword was shaking.

Calm down. He's injured and he doesn't have his sword. What can he do to me?

Kusamaru lowered slowly into a crouch, until his head disappeared below the level of the grass- all that remained visible was his woven hat, poised perfectly at waist level. Kariudo's eyes trained fiercely to the spot, anticipating any movement.

For a moment there was no sound- the spectators stopped talking.

Too late.

Kusamaru burst out of the grass directly in front of Kariudo. The leaf shinobi still hadn't taken his eyes off the grass hat, which hadn't moved an inch. He had just enough time to squeak, "please.." before the grass-nin wrenched his sword out of Kariudo's grasp and forced it down, piercing the leaf ninja's thigh.

Kusamaru gasped, eyes wide open like a fish. And then he disappeared with a soft poof and a whisp of smoke.

The real Kariudo shot out of the grass behind Kusamaru with a triumphant roar.

"AHAAAA!" he screamed, slingshot already drawn and loaded, as he crumpled a small square of paper with complicated seals on it around the loaded ball bearing.

Raito's eyes momentarily lit up.

"Ah, so the one ball bearing he drew out of his pack earlier was actually the real Kariudo. This entire time a shadow clone has been fighting."

With victory in his eyes, Kariudo let the slingshot fly.

"Transformation Sutra: Enlarge!"

After a brief flash, the bullet grew to many times its size midair, so it was flying towards Kusamaru with both the speed and size of a cannonball. Kusamaru had not even turned around.

And then the cannonball smashed uselessly against the wall. And the hilt of Kusamaru's sword smashed firmly into Kariudo's forehead, rendering him completely unconscious before he fell into a soft bed of tall, thriving grass.

Kusamaru straightened himself up and sheathed his sword. He put his hands together and bowed with deference to Kariudo's crumpled form. He then turned to Tsunade and bowed again, smiling politely.

"Thank you for presiding over my battle, Hokage-sama," he said.

Tsunade coughed.

And with a small limp, Kusamaru walked back to the stairs and climbed to the catwalk, the grass on the arena floor whithering away to nothing as he left.

Hakke's grey eyes were wide open.

"That kid's kinda fast," she whispered breathlessly.

Kusamaru approached his father and bowed once more, studying his father's face for any sign of approval.

"An adequate but unnecessary use of the Grass Concealment Technique," Midoriya said gruffly.

Kusamaru, still bowing, said, "Thank you, father," and sat down quietly against the wall.


End file.
